Fiftydriver
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To all interested.
I have been playing with my 224 AM over the last several months and finally finished up testing with the round and I am sad to say the performance I wanted was just not attainable.
I have never been one to hide my "failures" as I feel they help as much as hurt and can possibly save others alot of time and money down the road.
I got my throat opened up so that I would not have to turn my case necks which really helped speed up the testing proceedures.
Several powders were tested including AA8700, US869 and WC872.
Because the case capacity of the 224 AM is so large(based on the 270 WSM) I used only two bullets, the 100 and 107 gr ULD RBBT from Wildcat Bullets.
I had tested these bullets in a 1-8 twist 22-6mm AI and could not get them to stabilize in this twist. Because of this I ordered in a Lilja 1-7 twist for my personal 224 Allen Mag test rifle.
The last several tests have been the real definition of the round itself. I found with both bullets that accuracy was EXTREMELY good but only at velocities under 3100 fps. In fact at 3000 fps and below they were almost hard to believe playing with the 1/4 moa range with all groups.
At 3100 fps almost to the fps, things were letting loose. I did however continue velocity testing up until the bolt lift just began to get sticky which was right at around 3350 fps so i figured a very comfortable top end velocity potential from this round was 3300 fps in a 26" barrel. That was with the 107 gr ULD RBBT.
The problem here is that we need a 1-7 twist barrel to spin these VERY long 22 cal bullets. But with this fast twist barrel, at least with a 3 groove barrel which I am using, we are limited to 3100 fps max in velocity.
A 5 or 6 groove barrel may well offer more performance but at this point I am not willing to spend the money on tooling or another custom barrel to find out, right now anyway.
These bullets take the 22 cal rounds to a totally different performance level. In a chambering such as a 22-250 or its AI version, the 100 and 107 gr ULD RBBT in a 1-7 twist barrel would be extremely impressive and amazingly accurate. A +.600 BC bullet at +3000 fps is still a serious long range thumper and recoil would be non existant.
Also, rounds such as the 22 BRs and Dashers could also use these bullets for extended reach and get a major boost in ballistic performance.
The problem is not with the bullets, its with me being overly aggressive in case capacity. Just to much for what is needed. So at this time the 224 AM project is stailmated. I have been thinking about doing the same thing but on a 223 WSSM case which would be right in there with the velocity range we would want with these bullets, It would reach 3100 fps pretty easily I believe but would be much more efficent then the WSM based design.
At times bigger is not always better, the 224 AM is one of those cases but it was a fun experiment and we learned alot anyway so it was more then worth the expense.
If you want a mild manored, long range thumper, a fast twist barrel chambered for something from the BR to the 22-250 AI would be very impressive with either of these bullets.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen(50)
I have been playing with my 224 AM over the last several months and finally finished up testing with the round and I am sad to say the performance I wanted was just not attainable.
I have never been one to hide my "failures" as I feel they help as much as hurt and can possibly save others alot of time and money down the road.
I got my throat opened up so that I would not have to turn my case necks which really helped speed up the testing proceedures.
Several powders were tested including AA8700, US869 and WC872.
Because the case capacity of the 224 AM is so large(based on the 270 WSM) I used only two bullets, the 100 and 107 gr ULD RBBT from Wildcat Bullets.
I had tested these bullets in a 1-8 twist 22-6mm AI and could not get them to stabilize in this twist. Because of this I ordered in a Lilja 1-7 twist for my personal 224 Allen Mag test rifle.
The last several tests have been the real definition of the round itself. I found with both bullets that accuracy was EXTREMELY good but only at velocities under 3100 fps. In fact at 3000 fps and below they were almost hard to believe playing with the 1/4 moa range with all groups.
At 3100 fps almost to the fps, things were letting loose. I did however continue velocity testing up until the bolt lift just began to get sticky which was right at around 3350 fps so i figured a very comfortable top end velocity potential from this round was 3300 fps in a 26" barrel. That was with the 107 gr ULD RBBT.
The problem here is that we need a 1-7 twist barrel to spin these VERY long 22 cal bullets. But with this fast twist barrel, at least with a 3 groove barrel which I am using, we are limited to 3100 fps max in velocity.
A 5 or 6 groove barrel may well offer more performance but at this point I am not willing to spend the money on tooling or another custom barrel to find out, right now anyway.
These bullets take the 22 cal rounds to a totally different performance level. In a chambering such as a 22-250 or its AI version, the 100 and 107 gr ULD RBBT in a 1-7 twist barrel would be extremely impressive and amazingly accurate. A +.600 BC bullet at +3000 fps is still a serious long range thumper and recoil would be non existant.
Also, rounds such as the 22 BRs and Dashers could also use these bullets for extended reach and get a major boost in ballistic performance.
The problem is not with the bullets, its with me being overly aggressive in case capacity. Just to much for what is needed. So at this time the 224 AM project is stailmated. I have been thinking about doing the same thing but on a 223 WSSM case which would be right in there with the velocity range we would want with these bullets, It would reach 3100 fps pretty easily I believe but would be much more efficent then the WSM based design.
At times bigger is not always better, the 224 AM is one of those cases but it was a fun experiment and we learned alot anyway so it was more then worth the expense.
If you want a mild manored, long range thumper, a fast twist barrel chambered for something from the BR to the 22-250 AI would be very impressive with either of these bullets.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen(50)
